Conversations
by Can'tStopImagining
Summary: Magenta had never had a "girlfriend" or a "best friend" to discuss things with back home, but now she had Columbia. (Columbia/Magenta friendship).
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** So, originally Ci_rcumstance _was going to have some first person narrative but I decided I didn't like it written that way. However, I kept a few of the Magenta-POV bits, and decided, since they have no significant plot of their own, that I would post them separately. This is the first part. It's just some short, silly little Magenta and Columbia conversations, but I hope you enjoy. As ever, these characters are based more on the stage show than the film. I don't think you need to have read my other story to follow this. Thanks for reading! 

* * *

One night, Columbia hurried off with her boy, and when I headed down to Riff's room, I found it empty. I waited for several hours, before I decided to go back to my own bed. I decided I didn't much like this game when I had no advantage in it. It was only whilst sitting in the room I shared with Columbia that I realised just how little of her I had seen lately, and – worse yet – how much this was beginning to make me miss her. I had always faked an indifference to the earthling, but now, I craved her company. I stared at her crib, as if merely thinking about her would magic her into existing.

A few hours later, Columbia stumbled into the room, with all the dignity of a drunken mule. I must have dropped off to sleep at some point because I woke with a start, and then growled at her as she proceeded to shove two ice-cold hands against my breasts. She giggled happily, tucking her head under my chin, and I could smell cheap alcohol on her breath. That was the thing with Earth liquor – it smelt so revoltingly strong, though I knew from experience that it wasn't. I scowled, trying to remind myself that I had missed her, and should be grateful for some intimacy with her, even in this form. I tried to sleep, but I was irate. I had assured my brother that she was being careful, but if she had been this noisy entering my quarters, how loud had she been passing Frank's bedroom?

"Columbia," I hissed, shaking her a little.

"In the mornin' Mags," she drawled, refusing to open her eyes.

I glared at her, but it was too late, she was already part way off to sleep, and I didn't have the energy to shift her. We would certainly be talking about this tomorrow, though. I tried to be defiant as I found my eyelids drooping, but it was no good. Sleep quickly took me.

When I awoke, I still had a dead weight on my chest, Columbia having seemingly decided that the best way to sleep was almost entirely on top of me. I attempted to shake her awake, and when that didn't work, I rolled her off me, her body landing against the wall with a satisfying _thump, _but not waking. I was already late beginning on breakfast, so our talk would have to wait. I slid out of bed, leaving her curled around the sheets in my absence, and quickly dressed.

Once I had prepared breakfast, and half-heartedly cleaned the hallway and landing, still without any sign of Columbia, I returned to my room. Frank was up in the lab with my brother, so I was not worried about being caught skiving. I pushed the door open to find she was still in bed, face down, snoring loudly, only somewhat muffled by my pillow. I groaned, sitting down on the end of my bed and nudging her sharply with my elbow. She yelped, folding in on herself, and eventually sitting up, bleary-eyed with a sour expression on her pouty pink lips.

"Whadya do that for?" she whined, rubbing her eyes.

"It's late, and you were not up, and Frank will be wondering where you are."

She grumbled, crawling back under the sheets, "yeah right. He don't care where I am anymore... ain't done for a while."

I rolled my eyes at her as she snuggled down, already looking like she might drift off back to sleep any second. I kicked her and her eyes flew open.

"Cut it out!"

"Alright, well, if not Frank, then I. I missed you," I told her, begrudgingly, "and I told you we needed to talk."

Columbia looked like talking was the last thing she wanted to do. I had forgotten how terribly fragile earthlings were after they had been drinking, with the headaches and nausea. I had cackled the last time Columbia's body had reacted this way, right up until she had been sick all over my mattress, and I'd been forced to clean it up. Then it had lost all it's humour. Now, it was just tedious. I was willing to bet she hadn't even drank that much.

"Okay okay. Go on then."

She tucked her knees up to her chin, and I realised she hadn't even bothered to get undressed the night before, though she had at least taken her ridiculous tap shoes off. Her make-up was smudged across her face, and her hair was sticking up all over the place. _No wonder Frank isn't interested anymore_ I thought, and then instantly regretted it. I had no reason to fight with Columbia, especially since it was Riff who had riled me up, not her. I bit my tongue, trying to think of the best way to word what I wanted to ask. I'd never had a "girlfriend" or a "best friend" to discuss things with back home. Both of these were terms Columbia threw around with regards to myself constantly, but I didn't entirely understand either of them. I'd never got on with any of the other girls. I didn't have male friends either, just boys I played around with. And Riff, not that he really counted. I didn't really know how to hold a proper conversation with another girl, least of all about "boys", which was why I tended to zone out when Columbia began to talk about hers.

"What is it you and... the boy get up to," I finally asked, feeling silly, a trait I could not boast of often.

Columbia let out a high-pitched squeal, that probably hurt her ears as much as it did mine, and grinned at me, "you want to talk _boys!_"

"No," I said stubbornly, crossing my arms over my chest, "I want to talk about... whatshisname."

"Eddie," Columbia supplied, the grin growing ever larger.

"Yes... Eddie... tell me about him."

I listened while Columbia rambled on about nights out in places I'd never heard of, and with people I would never meet. She talked about Eddie's flat – from how she described it, it sounded like it was in worse condition than the castle – and then, the subject she really liked to go into great detail of, _him._ Considering how shy she was to speak of sex last time she brought the subject up, she was surprisingly descriptive now and, despite myself, I enjoyed listening.

"I'm sure you and Riff are... making the most of me being gone," she asked, after a significant lull in conversation.

I nodded, although I very much did not want to discuss my brother's relationship with her. It felt like going behind his back, particularly because I knew how he felt about Columbia. He was a relatively private person, and I couldn't imagine him wanting _anyone_ to hear about our private lives, let alone her.

"I should get back to work," I finally said, standing from the bed.

Columbia, who had pulled the sheet up to her chin, nodded, "I'll get dressed and be down in a bit. We should do this again."

I astonished myself by answering with a genuine "yes", before I headed back down to begin cleaning the guest rooms.


	2. Chapter 2

One afternoon, I was in my room trying to take a nap, when Columbia arrived. I opened one eye to watch her come over to the bed and settle in beside me, tucking her head into the crook of my neck, and resting an arm across my body. I sighed, letting my eyes close again, even though I knew it was unlikely she was hoping for silence. About two minutes later, she gently pawed at me until I opened my eyes, and I found her face floating above mine.

"Mags, have you ever loved anyone besides Riff?" she asked in a small, child-like voice. I stared at her in the mostly dark room and squinted to try and make out her facial expression. She looked exhausted, but not unhappy.

"No," I said, after a moment, "I'm not even sure that what I feel for Riff is exactly the same as what you call love."

Columbia was quiet a moment, lowering her head to my chest. I could feel her pulse against my side, a soft and steady thumping. Her skin was warm. I had missed her, but I was still slightly tense, knowing where she had probably just come from.

"Do you think you can love two people at once?"

I frowned, mulling this question over. I couldn't admit to being an expert on love. Love had become very unimportant in Transylvania, with many of our traditions and rituals that involved that level of emotion becoming unheard of. My parents were in love though. I didn't remember much about them, but I could recall how they were around each other. I remembered watching them together and hoping one day to find a love as strong as theirs. That thought had been crushed by their deaths, by my promiscuous trips to the tavern. Men were only good for one thing. Of course, as my feelings for Riff had developed, I had again come to question this. Now, in all honesty, I was not sure of my thoughts on the matter.

"I don't know, Columbia," I said, hoping not to come across too bluntly.

She was silent a while longer. My heart felt heavy, wishing I had the answers for her. I could see where this conversation was going, and it made me want to scream at her. She couldn't love Frank. Someone like Frank did not deserve someone like Columbia's love. He did not deserve her sweet, soft lips to kiss his skin, or her gentle fingers to caress him. He did not deserve any of it and it made me so angry I wanted to storm in there now and snap him in half like a twig. But I couldn't. Just like I couldn't tell Columbia who she could love. I just knew that, despite never having met him, it was Eddie that she belonged with. Eddie who showed up in the middle of the night to take her away, like some sort of knight in shining armour, only he rode a roaring lump of metal rather than a horse. Eddie who I was sure would do anything for her in a heartbeat, whilst Frank would happily throw her out on the streets.

"You hate him, don't ya?" her voice was so small I had to strain to hear her, even with our faces so close.

"Who?"

She sighed, "Frank."

I didn't know what to say to that. It was fairly obvious how I felt about him, though I knew better than to rant to her about it. I didn't get physically punished by him, so she didn't see it. She'd never had to dress my brother's wounds, or hear him cry out in pain in the middle of the night. He wasn't even particularly stern with her. She was allowed to eat meals with him; meals which she did not have to prepare, or clean up after. Sure, she trailed behind me cleaning, but I had never been clear on whether that was out of choice or not.

Of course I hated him. He had taken Riff and I from our home. As far as I could work out, he had given Riff no choice, and I had been dragged along because I could not be left behind. After what had happened all those months ago in the dining room, I felt I probably knew the real reason I had been forced to come along, although how I had been let off from that since, I was not quite sure. I felt like I had been marked by those hands, still sometimes dreamt of their rough touch. I always awoke with a desperate need to wash thoroughly. When Columbia went to him, it was consensual. She could never understand what he had done to me, much less because I had not told her, and refused to do so.

"I do," I said after a while of contemplation. She let out an exasperated, but quiet, sigh. Her breath felt warm against my skin.

"It would be easier if I hated him."

I nodded. She wriggled up the bed, so her head was now beside mine, her face turned to the side, whilst mine lay flat against my pillow. I didn't need to look at her to imagine the pained expression on her face; I had seen it often enough. She snuggled into my side, and I tucked my arm around her, squeezing her gently.

"I wish I could help," I said, my eyes still closed.

"I don't think anyone can."

Her voice sounded so small and broken that I turned my head to face hers, running my fingers down her side until I found her hand and squeezed it tight in mine. I didn't say anything, but as my eyes met hers for several moments, I felt like we said everything that needed to be said.


End file.
